CONTANDO CONTIGO 131

I. La Habana y Los Angeles: Interview of the author by Edith M.
Vasquez

VAsquez: Are your characters born of earth or of language?
Depestre: My characters are born of the earth. They are so rooted in
the earth that they become cruel and crazy. Language makes them
unreal.
Vasquez: What qualities go along with innocence? With disillusionment?
Depestre: With innocence goes confidence, which gives rise to kindness
and a kind of ignorance. With disillusionment: madness, which takes
control and unleashes hatred. (I don't know if you are asking about my
characters or life itself, but there's not much difference.)
VAsquez: Do you write the steps of memory? Do you write from dreams?
Depestre: Rather, I create with the steps of dream and write with the
shoes of memory.
Vasquez: How does the ambrosia of writers taste?
Depestre: The same as the nectar of the gods, so I ask myself now:
Why weren't they as skinny as I am?
Vasquez: Tell me a story in 50 words.
Depestre: Sparks hover behind my eyelids. I can even see them with
my eyes open. They are nervous points moving like a cardiogram on a
monitor. Sometimes they give the false impression that my heart has
stopped: they make a straight line without a sound. There ought to be
a high-pitched beep, but there's only that straight line without a sound.
The truth is, I don't understand them; they confuse me sometimes.
Could the silence contain so much racket? Thank you all for coming. It
is an honor and very exciting to participate on this panel today.


(Translated from the Spanish by Sharon Franco)